When one talks about Indian athletics, it has two faces, one that is starting to shine on the world stage, and the other is the face of doping. Back in September, at the Delhi State Athletics Championships, a video was doing the rounds where the bathrooms were filled with used syringes. Then in the 100m final only one participant ran, and in another, the woman participant did not stop running, to evade a dope test.
Adille Sumariwala’s Take on Doping in Indian Athletics
Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla is facing the ire of the World Athletics, for failing to control this dope menace in Indian athletics. While an internal investigation was launched to figure out what went wrong at the Delhi Championships, there has been no result so far.
“I’m getting flak from World Athletics, from AIU (Athletics Integrity Unit), from WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency),” Sumariwalla was quoted as saying by Sportstar. ‘What can I do?’
“What can I do, I’m not the police. I can’t arrest them, I don’t have any powers to do any of that. My only power is reporting.” Sumariwalla went on to say that maybe the Indian media is making too big a deal about it as well, and eventually it could get the AFI banned.
“I think everyone is making too much out of it. There is an issue, yes. Is it a big issue? Very big issue. But by keeping on making a big issue out of it, going to international media and seeing which will get India banned is not what we are looking at,” he said. “Now we have an enquiry commission, set up by the chairman of the disciplinary committee, which will look into it. NADA is also looking into it.”
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